Conte: Injuries have affected the team’s defensive stability and Napoli must regain the spirit of last season

October 22nd, in the third round of the Champions League, Naples lost 2-6 away to Eindhoven. Naples coach Conte attended the post-match press conference.

Why does Napoli concede so many goals?

When we lost the second ball, we had regained the ball, but then we made two serious mistakes in a row, and our opponent quickly launched a counterattack. It's hard to explain when you drop the ball like we did today. This could be an individual mistake, not necessarily a team fault. We only participated in Serie A last season, and we were lucky enough that our main players could always play, and our tactical coordination was very mature. Due to some injuries this season, we have to deal with many new situations and try to get the players to recover as soon as possible.

Obviously, our defense was much more solid last season. Due to injuries this season, we have lost some defensive stability, which is normal. For example, when we faced Sporting CP, we could only field a new defense line. Rahmani has only played twice so far this season, but he was always available last season. We need to get new players up to speed on things as quickly as possible, and that takes time and patience.

Tonight's fiasco was just an accident?

All games require analysis. If you simply view it as a bad night, another loss is likely to follow. The players know what I think and I always speak out. We have to get back to the spirit of last season that allowed us to achieve something extraordinary even with a small number of players. We were all pushing our limits, myself included.

We introduced 9 new players this summer. It is not easy to integrate them into the team, but we must do it. It's not easy to integrate 9 players. We need to stay humble, I talk about that all the time. Some people create smoke in Naples, but this is a place where the truth must always be told. We took the decision together with the club and I repeat, this season will be very difficult. Tonight's game should speed us up, the new players have to integrate as quickly as possible and everyone has to work hard.

McTominay scored twice in this game

I have no interest in personal flash performance. He, like all other players, must continue to improve. I say it again: this is going to be a very difficult season. I'm not making excuses, we have to be good at dealing with a complicated season. Tonight's loss is not the first sign, we have lost four games. This signal pains me and I hope others feel the same, and it must serve as motivation to accelerate our return to the way things were before.

Luka received a red card for protesting the penalty.

Both old and new players must improve, and all of us must work hard, regardless of whether someone is sent off. If we want to grow and build something that Napoli can be proud of, we have to get back to that mental state of last season, when everyone put the good of the team first, and have to get back to that state where personal gain means nothing and the most important thing is the good of the team. For various reasons, a lot of situations arise and I sometimes even find it interesting to observe them because it is so explicit... I repeat, Naples and Neapolitans cannot be fooled.